The Safety of Secrets

Listen to the author reading this great summer read! Highly recommended.

The Librarian Song

Having been a librarian for many years, I can vouch for the accuracy of this song! And it made me laugh out loud!

The Story of Forgetting (2008)

Stefan Merrill Block has written an incredible first novel that one reviewer suggests will do for early-onset Alzheimer's what The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time did for Autism. Three stories intertwine to create a vivid exploration of the effects of this terrible disease. What is amazing is that the tale is not depressing as one might expect. I was moved by this beautiful and exceptional debut novel.

"Through the fusion of myth, science, and storytelling, this novel offers a dazzling illumination of the hard-learned truth that only through the loss of what we consider precious can we understand the value of what remains." (from the author's website)

The Finder (2008)

I probably picked this from an Entertainment Weekly review but I had had an earlier work, The Havana Room, on my to-read list forever.

International stock marker manipulation by the wealthy high rollers results in death, terror tactics and torture by those who do their dirty work for them. Espionage, mafia, and a love story make this an intelligent page turner. HOWEVER, I am getting squeamish about all the horrid desciptions of torture in best sellers these days. When I finished reading this book, I felt exhausted. I am seriously thinking of forgoing future books that feature torture.

Gas City (2007)

Loren Estleman, who lives nearby in Michigan, is one of those authors that I have been meaning to read for years. Gas City is more novel than mystery because Estleman knows how to write and uses words like an artist uses color.

Gas City deals with a serial killer, the mafia and social corruption in a city that could be Detroit if it were larger. (There is a real Gas City in Indiana!)

Recommended.

Three Girls and Their Brother (2008)

Successful playwright Theresa Rebeck has written a darkly comic novel about the effects of celebrity. In Three Girls and Their Brother each sibling tells part of the story from their personal point of view. The dialogue is snappy and smart. I loved this book!

Granddaughters of a famous literary critic, three sisters with stunning red hair, receive an invitation to be photographed for The New Yorker and suddenly become the next 'big thing' pursued relentlessly by the paparazzi.

Theresa Rebeck's acclaimed play Mauritius recently closed on Broadway.